A Wedding at Clove Brook Farm
With its emerald green lawns, manicured gardens, and a newly built barn clad with crisp white board and batten siding, a lovingly restored 1830s Greek Revival farm house in New York's Hudson Valley is a beautiful setting for a wedding.
Just over a week ago, I attended a very special wedding at Clove Brook Farm in Millbrook - the home of my friends and the grooms of honor, Christopher Spitzmiller and Anthony Bellomo. They were married outdoors on a gorgeous late summer day in front of their dearest family and friends.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- Christopher, Anthony, and their team worked tirelessly for weeks to get the barn ready for their big day. Here is the front of the newly renovated barn just before the ceremony. It was a lovely day and the barn was the perfect venue for their sit down dinner.
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- Here I am with good friend, decorator Stephen Sills.
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- There were gorgeous plants and flowers everywhere. This is the kitchen porch at Clove Brook Farm.
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- The barn interior was all set for dinner.
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- Here is another long table set up in the barn.
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- A side table is decorated with a topiary from Anthony’s shop, Orangerie, in Millbrook, and a flower filled cachepot made by Christopher.
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- The bar set up in the barn included a table purchased from my Great American Tag Sale last spring – I recognized it right away. The stone basket of fruit was a wedding gift from Anthony to Christopher.
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- Here is the arrival table laid out with baskets of moss displaying all the escort cards. Do you know the difference between escort cards and place cards? A place card not only directs guests to the table where each will sit during the reception, but it also points each guest to his or her particular seat at the table. Escort cards direct guests to a table, but once there, they are free to choose their own seat.
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- The handsome grooms – Anthony Bellomo and Christopher Spitzmiller – emerging from the house wearing boutonnieres of Dahlia ‘Verrone’s Obsidian.’
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- This is the gate to the Pool Garden where the cocktail hour was held prior to dinner.
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- Bars are set up on either side of the pool house with the bluest of skies overhead.
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- On this table is one of Christopher’s gold lustre gourds. The garden border is filled with Russian sage, Salvia yangii, and dahlias.
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- Christopher and Anthony hold hands during the ceremony.
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- The table candles are lit just before dinner. Some of the beautiful floral arrangements are done by Cathy B. Graham.
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- Here is one of the table settings showing dahlia dinner plates by Christopher.
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- Here is another pretty table setting with custom menu cards by The Printery.
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- And an overhead photo showing the details of the table, flowers and vegetable tables decorations. Both Christopher and Anthony are avid gardeners.
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- Here’s a closer look at the stone basket of fruit surrounded by votives. It’s become one of Christopher’s favorite stone pieces at Clove Brook Farm.
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- Here I am seated next to interior designer Richard Keith Langham.
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- Here are the grooms cutting their “faux bois” wedding cake with meringue mushrooms. The couple made the cake themselves. An outer layer of whipped cream concealed a rich black forest cake of chocolate layers filled with more whipped cream and sour cherries.
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- The celebration lasted into the night. Here is the barn lit up with luminarias placed along the stone driveway.
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- All the guests received decorated cookies by Nikki Berry depicting the buildings and animals of Clove Brook Farm.
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- And hung from the mantle in the upstairs bedroom of the house was this joyful banner – put up as a surprise by a close friend of the grooms. Congratulations Christopher and Anthony – what a wonderful wedding.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
